Gary Gygax - Wargames

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During the 1960s, Gygax worked as an insurance underwriter for the Firemen's Fund in Chicago. In 1967, Gygax co-founded the International Federation of Wargamers (IFW) with Bill Speer and Scott Duncan. The IFW grew rapidly, especially by assimilating several pre-existing wargaming clubs, and aimed to promote interest in wargames of all periods and provided via its newsletters and societies a forum for wargamers to form local groups and share rules. In 1967, Gygax organized a 20-person gaming meet in the basement of his home; this event would go on to be called "Gen Con 0". In 1968, Gygax rented Lake Geneva's vine-covered Horticultural Hall for US$50 to hold the first Lake Geneva Convention, also known as the Gen Con gaming convention for short. Gen Con is now one of North America's largest annual hobby-game gatherings. Gygax met Dave Arneson, the future co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, at the second Gen Con in August 1969.

I'm very fond of the Medieval period, the Dark Ages in particular. We started playing in the period because I had found appropriate miniatures. I started devising rules where what the plastic figure was wearing was what he had. If he had a shield and no armor, then he just has a shield. Shields and half-armor = half-armor rules; full-armor figure = full armor rules. I did rules for weapons as well. —Gary Gygax

Together with Don Kaye, Mike Reese, and Leon Tucker, Gygax created a military miniatures society called Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) in 1970, with its first headquarters in Gygax's basement. Shortly therefter in 1970, Robert Kuntz and Gygax founded the Castle & Crusade Society of the IFW. Late in October 1970, Gygax lost his job at the insurance company and then became a shoe repairman, which gave him more time for pursuing his interest in game development. In 1971, he began working as editor-in-chief at Guidon Games, a publisher of wargames, for which he produced the board games Alexander the Great and Dunkirk. Early that same year, Gygax published Chainmail, a miniatures wargame that simulated medieval-era tactical combat, which he had originally written with hobby-shop owner Jeff Perren. Gygax also collaborated on Tractics (WWII to c. 1965, with Mike Reese & Leon Tucker) and with Dave Arneson on the Napoleonic naval wargame Don't Give Up the Ship!

The first edition of Chainmail included a fantasy supplement to the rules. These comprised a system for warriors, wizards and various monsters of non-human races drawn from the works of Tolkien and other sources. For wizards, Gygax included six spells that could be used to affect a battle, plus two "missiles" (fire ball and lightning bolt). Dave Arneson adopted the Chainmail rules for his fantasy Blackmoor campaign. While visiting Lake Geneva in 1972, Arneson ran his fantasy game using the new rules, and Gygax immediately saw the potential of role-playing games.

Basing their work on Arneson's modified version of Chainmail for his Blackmoor campaign, Gygax and Arneson collaborated on The Fantasy Game, the role-playing game that later became Dungeons & Dragons. The rules for simulating magic were inspired by the works of fantasy author Jack Vance, and the system as a whole drew upon the work of authors such as Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Fritz Leiber. In 1973, Gygax attempted to publish the game through Avalon Hill, who turned down his offer.